The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

You may think this dog is cute, but that’s bullshit. This dog is a deadbeat that doesn’t pay its Verizon bill.

Meet Andy Fanelli. He’s a Lhasa Apso who apparently doesn’t have enough personal responsibility to pay his debt to Verizon. Sure, Andy’s owners, Steve Fanell and Shawn Donovan, say that Andy has never been a Verizon customer, but should we believe them?

From KCRA:

“The point is that Andy has never had a Verizon account. We were just curious why this showed up,” Steve Fanelli said.

KCRA says the debt actually belongs to another Andy Fanelli who lives on the east coast. So how did the bill end up at the wrong Andy’s doorstep? Well, it’s probably because Andy has his very own American Express Card.

“It’s an active card. From time to time I take my girlfriends to lunch on Andy,” Donovan said. The dog’s debt has been canceled by Verizon, but it seems there are lots of complaints (to the Illinois Attorney General and posted online) about the debt collector, AFNI, trying to collect outdated or incorrect debts. AFNI says that it is diligent about debt verification.